Do that Again
by failedfracture
Summary: Draco retreats to the muggle world but gets sucked back into Wizarding drama by Harry and Hermione. He takes an unfortunate potion that heightens his senses and wants Hermione to keep him company.


"Harry, where is Malfoy?" Hermione asked the distracted Auror as he collected evidence.

"In the foyer with Bartley," he replied, then swooshed his wand to magically seal a vial of blue liquid, one of many illegal magical potions that were being brewed at the Nott residence and distributed from a butchery in Knockturn alley.

Hermione felt the heat of annoyance. It made her skin prickle. "_Bartley_ took Nott to lockup at the Ministry Headquarters ten minutes ago," she said with a huff of indignation that finally captured her friends attention. "Malfoy is an important witness, Harry. Please don't tell me you've lost him!"

"I told Bartley to watch him! _Guthrow_ was supposed to take Nott!"

"Damn it."

Harry ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "He's not going to run off, Hermione. He wants his probation lifted, and the conditions were clear."

"They gave him some of _that_ garbage, Harry," Hermione pointed at the sealed canister. "He's not in his right mind."

"Are you sure it was this one?"

"I'm positive. I watched the entire thing. Nott handed him a vial - Blue with gold flecks. He downed the whole thing."

"Why the hell would he do that!"

"He was trying to gain Nott's trust. They haven't seen one another in a few years." Hermione pursed her lips, feeling guilty that she had dragged Malfoy into this against his will. "They were suspicious of him and he did what he needed to do."

The concerned expression on Harry's face did nothing to ease her mind. "He can't apparate. He'll splinch."

"He can try." Hermione corrected him, stepping back into the corridor. "Let's hope he wasn't stupid enough to attempt it."

After searching every last inch of the Nott residence, finding two boggarts, an abandoned dungeon, and questioning every person, Hermione was fairly certain he had taken off on foot. The nearest apparition point was a half a kilometer out.

Using a tracking spell that she had learned from Harry and Ron, she circled the main residence and found several sets of footprints, then focused in on the ones that looked recent. Ignoring those made by her and the aurors when they had arrived, ruling out the set that led to the mausoleum, there was only one set remaining that looked likely to be his, and they led south toward the seashore. She followed them uneasily, not certain they belonged to Draco but willing to chance it to secure his safety. Without him to testify before the wizengamot, she wouldn't have a very solid case.

It was a dark and rather creepy estate which could be home to any number of unfortunate things. She trudged through a dirt path and over a small hill with slippery stones before the water came into sight.

"Malfoy." She approached him hesitantly, not sure of his condition or state of mind. He was sitting slumped over with his head in his hands.

He didn't respond, so she took another step forward and knelt down beside him in the sand.

"Malfoy, are you alright."

"Fucking splendid," he murmured without looking up. "I just helped you and Potter lock up my oldest friend. Great day all around."

She nearly said she was sorry, but she wasn't. Theo Nott was a criminal, and he deserved to be locked up. "You did the right thing."

"The right thing." He pulled at his white-blond hair and looked out at the dark water. His demeanor was different, less composed than she had ever seen him, but that was only a handful of times since Hogwarts. "Theo and I... we used to swim out here when we were children. I fell... over there on that giant rock...knocked myself unconscious. He dragged me out of the water."

She looked out at the rock that stood tall in the surrounding water, and she could almost picture two young boys climbing up to the top and looking out at the sea beyond. Time changed people so much.

"How do you feel?" She asked.

"Honestly..." He ran his fingers through his hair, then over his neck. "Really fucking high."

"Come with me. I can get you a sober up potion."

He smiled and almost laughed. "Who said I wanted to be sober?"

He touched the skin on his hands and wrists, and she wondered what it must feel like. The potion played dangerously with the senses. She had never and would never use a mind-altering substance, aside from the occasional alcoholic drink, but that didn't mean she couldn't understand the draw.

"Being out here this late and in your condition...it's not safe. Come with me to the Ministry, or if you'd prefer to go to the manor-"

"No. I want to go home."

"Which one? You had _four or five_ last I checked."

"Don't pretend you don't know where I spend my time. You and your auror friends have been watching my every move."

It was true. In the weeks since Malfoy had reluctantly agreed to help them in exchange for a shorter probation sentence, they had been following him closely. Even before that, he had random check-ins from the Ministry.

"The muggle flat in London," she stated and then shook her head still not quite believing it. "You shouldn't be alone. Is there someone I can call?"

"Potter obliviated her."

She really should have seen that coming as well.

His muggle girlfriend of three months was obliviated at Hermione's recommendation. She had seen Ministry owls coming and going from his flat, and Malfoy had been careless around her, leaving his wand out and his potions cupboard unlocked. Hermione told herself she really didn't have a choice, but she knew they could have taken less drastic measures.

"I'm sorry."

"You're what?"

"I am sorry." And then she stood up and said it a bit louder than was necessary. "Draco I am sorry we obliviated your muggle girlfriend, but you can't honestly tell me that was going to last. We just spared her from the inevitable."

"Fuck you." He looked up at her with an unreadable expression, but the stars were reflected in his eyes and she saw the pain in their depths. "Fuck you for fucking with my life. No it probably wouldn't have lasted but I was happy until a few weeks ago. I was _happy_."

"I'm sorry."

He nodded.

"Anyone else?"

"No. No I'll be fine Granger. Just take me home."

He side along apparated with her to the only alley she could think of that was near his residence. As they walked down a bustling street she realized it wasn't very close at all.

Seventeen minutes, to be exact. Seventeen minutes of his arm resting around her shoulder to steady himself, seventeen minutes of her hand around his waist.

The first four minutes were silent, but as they turned onto the main street, the buzz of the city stirred him to near madness, and she endured another thirteen long minutes of his sudden and annoying fascination with _the color blue_. Blue cars, blue buildings, blue front doors. When he saw a girl with blue hair she half thought he might run up and kiss her he was so bloody ecstatic.

"It's like the sky came apart," he said as he picked a blue flower. She didn't understand how he could have even spotted the small blue petals, growing as it was in shadow behind a splintering gate.

"This potion is a serious mind-fuck. I could spend the rest of my life on it." He exhaled. "I'd like to, I think."

"That's why it's so dangerous."

"Dangerous," he whispered. "To see everything as it really is."

"It isn't reality, Draco. You'll come around tomorrow."

"Fuck tomorrow."

Two steps past the second blue door, he stumbled, then gasped and plucked her hand off him bitterly, jaw clenched. For a long moment, she thought he just realized that she was touching him and was disgusted, as he would have been so many years ago.

"Be careful," he said. "Your fingernails feel like fucking _talons_."

Her grip was gentler after that like she was holding a small child and not a grown man against her side.

"Is this it?" She asked, looking upward at the glass building. He nodded. "What's the door code?

"4392."

The door clicked when she entered the code, so she pulled it open and ushered him inside, slightly tempted to say '_ladies first_'.

She bit her tongue and called for the elevator.

When Draco got to his door, she noted that it was also blue, and wondered if it were a coincidence. He plucked his keys from his pocket and handed them to her.

"It's very...mugglish." She noted aloud as she stepped into the dimly lit room.

There was a hat at the entryway, flipped upside down, the contents of his _mugglish_ pockets had been dumped haphazardly within it. A modern looking cell phone, a pack of cigarettes, two lighters, a few receipts, and spare change.

"That's the general idea." He said and then added, "It was meant to keep mother away, and then..." he flopped down on his couch and took off his loafers, "I decided I liked it."

She picked up the phone and it blinked to life.

_Matt_

_8:51pm_

_Where the fuck are you_

_Matt_

_6:48pm_

_We're meeting at the TC_

"Who is Matt?" She asked, returning the cell phone to its place in his hat.

His head swiveled against the back of the sofa. "Why do you care?"

She glanced at herself in the mirror above the entry table, unimpressed by the frizzy mess her hair had become thanks to the sea spray and night winds. "You have muggle friends."

"And a muggle car, and muggle appliances... and, as you know I had a muggle girlfriend before you and Potter ruined my life." He closed his eyes. "I'm pretty sure my dog is a fucking muggle too come to think of it. Definitely non-magical."

"You have a dog?"

"He's at the neighbors." He pointed lazily at the east wall. "Couldn't leave him alone. You can stop looking at me like that." And then, "People change, Granger."

She nodded quietly and decided to explore the kitchen, shocked and dismayed when she found no tea and plenty of coffee. Apparently he was one of _them_.

Not to be deterred by the revelation, she placed coffee in the filter, filled up the pot, and pressed the tiny red start switch. Once she was confident she had gotten all the steps right, she returned to the living room to find Draco in the same exact spot she had left him.

"You are...unequivocally...the nosiest person I know." He said with false indignance. "Just.. make yourself at home. God knows... you probably have more right to be here than I do."

"Ah, there's the Malfoy I know," she sat on the table in front of the sofa.

"What the fuck does that even _mean_."

"I'm from muggleville so I ought to feel comfortable here, right?"

"Are you?"

She looked around. "I haven't used an appliance in over a year, Draco. I'm a witch."

He smiled. "And I... am a muggle loving blood traitor who wouldn't survive a day without my coffee pot. Oh the irony." He looked at her with glazed eyes and continued in a quiet voice. "It was just supposed to be a change of scenery until my probation ended, and then I was moving to France. But everyone here is so... _fucking_... _friendly._" He shook his head. "Feels more like home than the Manor ever did."

The coffee pot beeped.

—

He fell asleep around 12:30. At least, she thought he was asleep when she went to touch his forehead with the back of her hand. His skin was warm and soft, and he shivered slightly at her touch. She should have pulled her hand back then, she understood in retrospect, but instead, she pushed his hair back.

He sucked a breath in through his teeth and she pulled her hand away quickly. "Do it again."

"No," she whispered. "I just wanted to make sure you were-"

"Please." His eyes were still closed, face peaceful enough that she thought he might be dreaming or half asleep.

She lifted her hand slowly to his temple and dragged her fingers over his hair as she had before. It was like fine silk beneath her fingertips, and his lips parted like he was in "Heaven," he murmured.

She had always thought he looked uniquely like a wizard, with his Malfoy hair and aristocratic features. He still did, but with age, she found he had perfected the look so it was less severe and more angelic.

She moved her hands further back on his scalp and _felt_ more than _saw_ his reaction. It was like an involuntary shudder, and she thought for certain she needed to leave. As though he heard the thought aloud, he reached forward for her other hand and pulled it toward him.


End file.
